Archive for the ‘Autonomous Cars’ Category

Renault showed off at the Paris Motor Show with its new personal assistant, the Augmented Editorial Experience, or AEX, which was developed as an A.I. that would help the driver and the other occupants of the car enjoy each trip to the fullest.

A lot of partnerships are arising these days. It’s not just automakers and tech companies, but also automakers and automakers. This time, it’s General Motors and Honda teaming up to take on the world with Autonomous Technology. General Motors and Cruise Automation announced collaboration with Japanese giant, Honda that will seek “large-scale deployment” of technology for autonomous vehicles.

Auto show season is creeping up, and that means the concepts are starting to roll on out. One of the first out the gates is this new all-electric, fully autonomous, highly customizable transportation bubble from Mercedes-Benz Vans, which offers highly intelligent conveyance for not only people, but goods and cargo as well.

Continue reading to learn more about the Mercedes Vision Urbanetic Concept.

Volvo has pulled the sheets off of the 360C, a fully autonomous electric concept car that showcases a new way to go about domestic travel without having to pay the exorbitant amounts attached to airline tickets. The 360c concept is essentially a bedroom on four wheels that Volvo views as a possible alternative to regional flights. It’s not expected to go into production anytime soon, but it does open the door to a new and innovative way of using autonomous driving technology.

Jaguar Land Rover has come up with a self-driving pod that can mimic eye contact that’s normally made between a driver and a pedestrian who’s about to cross a street. The self-driving pod even has “virtual eyes” that can literally “look” at a pedestrian who’s waiting to cross. The “look” is meant as a signal that the pod has identified the presence of a pedestrian and intends to stop for them so they can cross the street. The pod is part of JLR’s U.K. government-supported Autodrive project.

Between the impressive DBS Superleggera and the downright outrageous Cygnet V8, Aston has been making some pretty big blips on our radar as of late. Now, we’ve got something else to ogle – it’s called the Volante Vision Concept, and it’s meant to “explore luxury personal air mobility” to fly you and yours to any urban or inter-city destination with ease.

More and more automakers are entering the autonomous car business in an effort to make traffic safer for both drivers and pedestrians. But, while car makers are developing state-of-the-art vehicles, Siemens added self-driving technology to a first-generation Ford Mustang. And the pony car was just showcased at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

It’s no secret General Motors is working hard to create its own fully autonomous vehicle, and now, it looks as though the domestic auto-making behemoth could be gearing up for a big reveal before we know it.

In a surprising move, Ford and the Volkswagen Group announced today that they are seeking a strategic alliance to increase competitiveness in the segment of commercial vehicles. Representatives of both companies addressed the public explaining that the potential alliance will enable them “to better serve the evolving needs of customers globally.”

Although Jaguar Land Rover seems to be silently developing its autonomous technology, it is actually leading itself into the no-tarmac region. Forget about getting ferried driverless on the highways; with an investment of $4.9 million, JLR plans to take you off-road without one! Why use your technology on the roads when you can go off the beaten path?

Rolls-Royce may have succumbed to the growing demand of SUVs all over the world, but don’t expect the British luxury brand to do the same with semi-autonomous driving technology. Rolls has no interest in joining that race because, in its mind, most people who own Rolls-Royce models don’t even drive them. They have chauffeurs that drive the cars for them.

Self-driving cars are getting more and more sophisticated by the day. Despite recent news about autonomous cars failing, many automakers are in the race to develop a successful, safe autonomous car. Audi has thrown its hat in the mix as well with its fully self-driving car based on the Aicon Concept Car, and it will hit the roads in 2021. Read on to know more.

At this point, you already know about Uber’s fatal crash, and you know that neither the vehicle (artificial intelligence) or the person behind the wheel applied the brakes. Well, a report coming out of The Information cites sources close to the matter, saying that the software identified the cyclist but chose to ignore it. Let me repeat that. The car’s sensors realized there was a pedestrian in the road, but made a decision not to react right away.

This sounds like a clear-cut case AI taking the chance kill (let’s not forget about that robot that said it wanted to kill the human race) but the truth is that Uber’s software was “tuned” to ignore false positives. So, what is a false positive? Think about a plastic bag in the road or somebody’s old beer can rolling around in the street. It happens, and we all
ignore it too. Uber claims that it’s simply a case of tuning gone wrong, or in other words, Uber’s software was set to react less to certain objects in the road. So much for erring on the side of caution.

At this point, you already know about Uber’s fatal crash, and you know that neither the vehicle (artificial intelligence) or the person behind the wheel applied the brakes. Well, a report coming out of The Information cites sources close to the matter, saying that the software identified the cyclist but chose to ignore it. Let me repeat that. The car’s sensors realized there was a pedestrian in the road, but made a decision not to react right away.

This sounds like a clear-cut case AI taking the chance kill (let’s not forget about that robot that said it wanted to kill the human race) but the truth is that Uber’s software was “tuned” to ignore false positives. So, what is a false positive? Think about a plastic bag in the road or somebody’s old beer can rolling around in the street. It happens, and we all
ignore it too. Uber claims that it’s simply a case of tuning gone wrong, or in other words, Uber’s software was set to react less to certain objects in the road. So much for erring on the side of caution.

Word has it that our streets will be significantly safer once the human element is taken out of driving. AI in self-driving cars will be able to reduce accidents to nil overnight when human drivers are a thing of the past. But, the government has another use for self-driving cars, and it’s about saving lives too. It’s about keeping soldiers out of danger by sending supply convoys out on their own. This will (probably) require AI that’s capable of detecting and dispatching threats automatically as well, but you get the point – no soldiers in route, no casualties are possible.

Deep down, we all knew this would happen, but we never really spoke about it. Now,
the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Michael Griffen, has told Bloomberg that the U.S. Military will have self-driving technology first. In fact, he was pretty certain of the notion and even said that simple algorithms would be all that is needed as most supply runs don’t have to worry about human pedestrians, street signs, or other obstacles. With Griffin admitting that 52-percent of casualties in combat zones can be traced back to supply runs and logistical activities, this could turn out to take a significant role in saving the lives of our men and women in uniform.

With that said, there’s no word as to what private companies the Pentagon could team up with, but when you consider the strides made recently, especially by brands like Tesla, it seems like the Government could have self-driving vehicles as soon as next year. Furthermore, the government could also use the technology for things tanks, bomb detection, bomb disarming, wounded soldier retrieval, explosive disposal, and reconnaissance, among other things.

In case you’re already dreaming of one day owning an electric car that will allow you to browse your social media accounts on your mobile phone or doze off as the car brings you to work, you might want to hold off on those dreams. A new study conducted by autonomous vehicle consortium Venturer suggested that laws should be put in place to ban drivers from doing those things when they’re inside a moving autonomous car.

In case you’re already dreaming of one day owning an electric car that will allow you to browse your social media accounts on your mobile phone or doze off as the car brings you to work, you might want to hold off on those dreams. A new study conducted by autonomous vehicle consortium Venturer suggested that laws should be put in place to ban drivers from doing those things when they’re inside a moving autonomous car.

Honda and Waymo are on the verge of developing an autonomous delivery vehicle, a culmination of a partnership that first surfaced in late 2016. The plans for the vehicle involve the two companies designing and developing it from scratch as part of a future delivery service that will include vehicles Alphabet CEO John Krafcik described as being capable of carrying both people and goods, among other capabilities.